Which VPN do you use?

[anon]

I looked into OpenVPN yesterday, and the site mainly focuses on driving people to their "Private Tunnel" service. The site specifically goes into anti-BT/filesharing in its TOS section.

That's something else. You don't need to purchase any services they may offer to run it. OpenVPN as a software suite is free and open-source, and can be download at the following link.

http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/downloads.html

Change my DNS to OpenDNS (in order to keep my searches out of the hands of Concast) cost: Free

I used to be on OpenDNS too, but switched back to my provider's servers some months ago. The reason for this is that some ill-designed CDNs rely on you doing so, to deliver data through the most efficient path. If I use name servers from the US, they think I reside there and use a sub-optimal route. But that won't be a problem for you as they have servers on your city.

Do note OpenDNS does hijacking of their own as well. If you mistype a domain, they redirect you to a search page with advertising. Turning that off requires you to make an account and such.

[cola]

If you want to get a proxy on the cheap, you can always get a VPS from a provider off lowendbox and use it as an SSH proxy. If you get a KVM or Xen VPS, you can install OpenVPN and use that.

[Artemis]

Back to your original question although not for BT the one I have 'used' in the past is StrongVPN specifically to enable the protected content on Kindle Fire devices in my country. It works perfectly for this application. The other option (which is cheaper) is to configure a small VPS with a Linux distro like fedora and install OpenVPN. If you are interested in this option I can give you some pointers.

I looked into OpenVPN yesterday, and the site mainly focuses on driving people to their "Private Tunnel" service. The site specifically goes into anti-BT/filesharing in its TOS section.

I am leaning towards the following security precautions since the free internet has fallen in the US:

Change my DNS to OpenDNS (in order to keep my searches out of the hands of Concast) cost: Free
Find a trustworthy VPN service (to keep my BT activities private with the sole exclusion of bandwidth) cost: ~$10 per month
Connect to sites via HTTPS (I already installed an extension for Chrome) cost: free
Limit the number of items I am sharing at one time (this way, I will not receive numerous notices at one time if detected) cost: free
Limit the amount of time I seed (DMCA notices I have received before all showed how long I seeded, as well as how much data I uploaded- seemingly to eliminate the "OOPS, I accidentally downloaded something I didn't mean to" argument.) cost: free

I wish this was not necessary, but I am not about to exit the world's greatest library. Adopting these few precautions at a cost of ~$10 per month is very reasonable for the access available to us. I am hoping this blows up, goes to court and is declared as what it is- wiretapping and (once they start collecting out-of court "settlements") racketeering.

Amerika: Land of the free*

*As long as you do EXACTLY as the corporations tell you what to do.

Last statement first: They are already collecting out of court settlements in the thousand each month, at least the copyright trolls are (google copyright troll if you are unaware of this charming corporate phenomenon in America).

To simplify your requirements though, if you hire a remote VPS (virtual private server) with a Linux distro you can telnet in and install and configure OpenVPN onto the server. Once this is done and you configure your PC you have created a VPN tunnel between the two. For the purposes of the copyright holders that you are concerned about, the originating I.P. address for any transactions i.e. bt downloads, will be the I.P. of the server, so the copyright holders can go fish.

[megabyteme]

Last statement first: They are already collecting out of court settlements in the thousand each month, at least the copyright trolls are (google copyright troll if you are unaware of this charming corporate phenomenon in America).

To simplify your requirements though, if you hire a remote VPS (virtual private server) with a Linux distro you can telnet in and install and configure OpenVPN onto the server. Once this is done and you configure your PC you have created a VPN tunnel between the two. For the purposes of the copyright holders that you are concerned about, the originating I.P. address for any transactions i.e. bt downloads, will be the I.P. of the server, so the copyright holders can go fish.

I am aware of the previous incarnation of copyright trolls. What is being done here is that all the major ISPs, the RIAA, and MPAA have teamed up to take over that racketeering scheme. Recently, Concast "championed" the little guy in order to push out all the small-time lawyers running the "out of court" settlements. These groups didn't team up for anything but HUGE amounts of money. This truly makes me and and nearly .


As for the info being posted by yourself and others, I find this all VERY valuable. I'm taking it all in right now, and making sense of it. I've got a spare box sitting here (I'm reasonably sure it is complete), so I may head in the direction of a home-rolled system fairly soon. To begin with (as an effort to NOT be the easiest "duck"), I'll most likely try a paid service first.

FUCK. FUCK. FUCK!!!!!

Had to get that out regarding the largest wiretapping and racketeering scheme in the history of mankind.

[anon]

As for the info being posted by yourself and others, I find this all VERY valuable. I'm taking it all in right now, and making sense of it. I've got a spare box sitting here (I'm reasonably sure it is complete), so I may head in the direction of a home-rolled system fairly soon. To begin with (as an effort to NOT be the easiest "duck"), I'll most likely try a paid service first.

That will work to install a Linux distro and get used to how it works. It won't be a solution since it'd still use your Comcast IP. I do agree with Artemis and cola on that renting a small server and building your own VPN is the best, if you have the time and effort required (plus Art offered to help you). It'd put you in control of how the server runs, what it logs, and so on.

And that triple "fuck" is quote material, dude.

[cola]

If you want to rent a cheap box, using an SSH proxy will be the easiest to set up. The only concern I'd have is making sure that the box is secure, and that can be kind of a pain and a little daunting if you're not used to linux.

Most VPS providers will give you the option to install minimal-OS templates, where the OS is installed with just the bare bones. And SSH will still work out of the box. The only thing I'd do is change the SSH port, to thwart drive by port scanners. Software like tunneler helps with setting up the proxy on your computer. Once you have your server, you could make that change and be up and running in less than 10 minutes.

OpenVPN is a bit more tricky, and you can't do it with just any VPS. But it's not always the best solution either. Especially if you only want some traffic going through it and not all of your traffic going through the VPN.

[anon]

Most VPS providers will give you the option to install minimal-OS templates, where the OS is installed with just the bare bones. And SSH will still work out of the box. The only thing I'd do is change the SSH port, to thwart drive by port scanners. Software like tunneler helps with setting up the proxy on your computer. Once you have your server, you could make that change and be up and running in less than 10 minutes.

Don't forget to reverse-forward the port your favorite P2P program will be using.

[megabyteme]

As for the info being posted by yourself and others, I find this all VERY valuable. I'm taking it all in right now, and making sense of it. I've got a spare box sitting here (I'm reasonably sure it is complete), so I may head in the direction of a home-rolled system fairly soon. To begin with (as an effort to NOT be the easiest "duck"), I'll most likely try a paid service first.

That will work to install a Linux distro and get used to how it works. It won't be a solution since it'd still use your Comcast IP. I do agree with Artemis and cola on that renting a small server and building your own VPN is the best, if you have the time and effort required (plus Art offered to help you). It'd put you in control of how the server runs, what it logs, and so on.

And that triple "fuck" is quote material, dude.

The help is much appreciated! The learning curve seems pretty steep as I have only tinkered with Linux a few times, and without great success. I missed the part where i need to rent a server, then install the distro. Doh! I couldn't be in better company when it comes to getting answers to my questions.

On another note, I've been curious about this sort of stuff for quite some time. A BIG thanks to Concast for making me take the plunge.

[PastTense]

So why is it that the sites hosting these VPN servers don't get sued by the copyright mafia?

[cola]

They're outside the US. So DMCA doesn't apply. And most overseas hosts will ignore US legal documents. If they get papers from a local court, that's a different matter.